Redemption
by Blue-Eyed-Butterfly
Summary: Sora now hates Riku, and he's dating Kairi, but when Riku meets a mysterious girl reminding him greatly of Sora, he begins to wonder if there's more that Sora's hiding.
1. Chapter 1

A 17 year old Sora wandered down the street, on his way home from school. He shivered in his coat as the December wind blew through his small frame. Senior year and he still wasn't allowed to drive his car to school. Had a license! But no firkin' driving privileges. Sora heard a noise behind him and saw Riku following him. Sora glared at him and quickened his pace. The noise of someone (namely Riku) following Sora had stopped. He looked behind him and there was no one there. But as he turned around he ran into something very solid. Sora fell over and rubbed his forehead. Damn his luck. He had run into a light pole. He heard maniacal laugh coming from the tree above him.

"Good one Grace!" Riku laughed harder when Sora tried to pout and glare at him at the same time. Riku fell off the branch he was perched on and landed flat on his back as a snowball hit him square in the chest. Sora smirked proudly.

"What the hell was that for?" Riku said in gasps. The high fall had knocked the wind out of him and it was suddenly painful to breath in the frosty air.

"That was for being a dick." Sora pivoted and stormed off. Riku sighed. He knew winning Sora back wasn't going to be easy, but this was ridiculous. He muttered a curse to himself and took off after the brown haired boy.

"Sora, I've been back for 3 months! How can you possibly still be mad at me?" Riku pleaded. Sora didn't even turn around to meet his gaze. He simply yelled over his shoulder, "Easy! With anger, hurt feelings, and a sharp sense of betrayal!" Riku winced inwardly. Ouch, that hurt. Sora turned down an unfamiliar street and Riku silently followed him. Sora looked behind him and didn't notice Riku hiding behind the bush. He figured Riku had gone home, so it was safe to call her. Riku watched intently as Sora pulled a cell-phone out of his pocket and punched in ten numbers, and then put the phone to his ear.

"Hey. Yeah I'm at the park. Where are you? What are you doing over there, I though we agreed to meet by the swings? Okay, I'll see you in a second." Sora put the phone back in his pocket. Riku became extremely curious as to who he had been talking to.

'Had Sora possibly gained a new boyfriend in the 3 years I had been gone?' Riku watched Sora and started to think the guy wasn't going to show up. But then Sora's face lit up and Riku followed his eyes to see what, or who, he was looking at. And the person he saw walking up to Sora shocked him even more than the time he stuck his finger in a light socket.


	2. Chapter 2

"Hey Kairi!" Sora said brightly before gripping her in a tight embrace. Riku's stomach knotted up and for a moment, he thought he was going to puke. The burgundy haired girl giggled when Sora nuzzled her neck affectionately and Riku had to fight not to get up and slug them both.

"I take it you missed me." She said jokingly. Sora smiled and nodded his head vigorously. Kairi laughed again and Riku snuck out of the bush that he was hiding in. Hoping and praying that they wouldn't notice him. It seemed luck was on his side because when he stood up they had their backs turned to him and were walking in the opposite direction, Sora and Kairi walking arm in arm. Riku walked home. Alone.

By the time he got back to the apartment, snow had started to fall heavily and Riku was starting to look like a moving snowman. The snow was the moist sticky kind that never comes off till it melts. He walked into the kitchen to boil some milk for hot chocolate. He was craving comfort food. So he also grabbed the big tub of rainbow sorbet ice - cream out of the freezer and snagged a spoon. While the milk boiled, Riku gorged on ice – cream, and started thinking about Sora and Kairi. Riku always knew that he was full out gay, but there was that suspicion that Sora wasn't. It was just the way that Sora looked at Kairi sometimes. And when they were younger, Riku was looking through Sora's room and found a playboy and a penthouse magazine. Needless to say, Sora was rather embarrassed. After that, Riku never found another hint of porn.

Riku heard a knock on the door and went to answer it.

"Hi Riku! I thought I saw you walking down the street!" Yuffie said excitedly. Aerith laughed kindly and simply said, "Good to see you made it back from Castle Oblivion okay." Riku smiled weakly. Yuffie didn't notice it, but Aerith did.

"Can we come in?" said a male voice from behind one of the pillars. Riku snickered to himself.

"Always aiming for that little flare of mystery huh Cloud?" Riku said jokingly. Cloud stepped out from behind the structure and cracked a smile. Riku stepped aside and let the three in. As Cloud sauntered past Riku, Riku grabbed his arm and asked him under his breath, "I don't have to worry about Tifa trying to break in for you, do I?" Cloud chuckled, and informed Riku that he wouldn't have to worry; Yuffie had informed Tifa that they were going out for a few minutes. Riku nodded and followed the rest of them into the living room.

Yuffie sniffed the air and plugged her nose in disgust.

"Ugh, why does it smell like burnt milk in here?" Riku looked puzzled, but then it dawned on him. He had left the milk on the burner and the ice – cream was melting. He made a B – line for the kitchen just in time to save the milk from boiling over. And the ice – cream wasn't melted too terribly bad.

He put the lid back on the ice – cream and put it back in the freezer and continued making his hot chocolate. Once it was done he ran back into the kitchen to offer some to everyone else. Yuffie jumped up with excitement. She may be a great ninja, but she was also a great girl, and she liked nothing better than chocolate. Riku made some more for her and they all sat in the living room.

"So Riku how was Ansem?" Yuffie asked excitedly. Riku shrugged in response.

"Same old reminiscent geezer I suppose. He's still struggling with the heartless incident but it's nothing to worry about. He's fine. Namine's doing well too. She really wants to see Roxas again so she's definitely keeping Ansem busy." Riku explained, leaving out the part about how Namine kept playing tricks on Ansem, replacing a small part of his memory every now and then, like where he put his pencil, or that he was getting food. Riku smiled at the memory.

They all updated Riku on everything that had gone on in the town. Intentionally leaving out the part about Sora and Kairi dating, assuming that he didn't already know. They laughed about everything that had gone on, and in the middle of their visit their came a knock on the door. Riku got up and answered it.

Standing in the doorway was a brown haired, blue eyed boy that, at the moment, was the last person Riku wanted to see.

"What do you need?" Riku asked emotionlessly. Sora met his cold gaze with one of his own.

"Tifa wanted me to come collect Cloud. She needs him for something." Sora said icily. Riku nodded and left Sora standing in the doorway. He walked back to the living room and delivered the news. Everyone said goodbye, and Cloud left with Sora. Sora left without a word. It appeared that Sora was giving Riku the cold shoulder.

Riku let out a long sigh after he closed the door. He put on a fake smile and walked into the living room again. Yuffie and Aerith looked at Riku, then at each other. Riku eyed them curiously. Yuffie was the first to speak up.

"So I'm going to assume that you know about Sora and Kairi now." Riku sighed again and nodded.

"We really wanted to tell you Riku. Okay, well I did. Aerith told me not to though. We weren't sure if you already knew or not. And Aerith thought it would be easier to find out on your own than to have someone tell you. And once you think about it, do you really think you would have believed us if we told you?" Yuffie explained. Riku thought about that for a minute.

"You're right, I wouldn't have. I guess I did need to just see it for myself." Riku admitted.

Aerith looked at the clock and said that it was time to go. She needed to make dinner.

"Would you like to come with us to dinner?" Aerith offered. Riku shook his head and saw them to the door.

After they left Riku sat on the couch thinking. Two hours passed before Riku moved at all.

"I guess I only have one choice." Riku mused to himself.

"I'm gonna have to win Sora back the old fashioned way."

PLEASE REVIEW!! I DON'T EVEN CARE ABOUT RATINGS! JUST REVIEW ME PLEASE!!


	3. Chapter 3

_**Riku woke up early the next morning and got dressed. He really didn't want to do anything today. He just wanted to huddle under the covers and never come out, but he knew that if he wanted to win back Sora he'd have to do this. He grabbed a pair of his baggy pants and his tight black surf shirt. Just so it wouldn't look suspicious, he also grabbed his yellow and white jacket – vest. He grabbed his heavy angora (rabbit hair/not the pelt, they were just shaved like sheep) jacket and headed out into the frostbitten atmosphere raging outside.**_

"_**Today is Sunday so Sora should be at the grocery store with his mom." So Riku headed off in the direction of the grocery store.**_

_**By the time Riku reached the store he was heavily coated with snow. He made sure to pay close attention for Sora's blue Lancer, which was in the parking lot third row. He was grateful for the blast of hot air as he entered the Grocery store. When Riku got to the buggies, he removed his heavy coat and placed it in the buggy and headed off for the frozen foods. He was running low on ice – cream. And he felt like having pot stickers for dinner tonight.**_

_**As Riku was wandering down the aisles browsing at all the different ice – creams and brands, pondering which one he was craving more, the double cookie dough, or rainbow sherbert, he didn't realize that he had come to the end of the aisle and he slammed into someone nearly knocking both carts over, but gracefully managing to knock the woman pushing it over.**_

"_**Oh my gods are you all right?" Riku ran around his cart to help the woman up. He reached down and took her by the elbow to help her up.**_

"_**I am so sorry; I wasn't paying a bit of attention! Are you all right?" Riku asked now flustered and extremely apologetic. The woman smiled and Riku stopped. Boy could she smile.**_

"_**I'm fine, don't worry about it! Thank you for the help up." The woman didn't look more than 25 years old. With short brown hair and bright blue eyes, she almost reminded Riku of Sora. Except for the earthy red lipstick she was wearing, and the mascara. They had the same adorable smile and were about the same height. But the difference was probably only because of the heels she was wearing.**_

_**She extended her hand and offered it to him in a friendly manner.**_

"_**I'm Sara! Nice to meet you…?" She left the end of it dangling for an answer. It took Riku a moment to realize that she was asking him his name.**_

"_**Oh! Uh…Riku! It's nice to meet you too." Riku took the hand graciously and was almost taken aback by how small her hand felt in his, much like Sora's. At that, Riku's eyes began to tear up and he had to quickly wipe them away before Sara saw them. Too late.**_

"_**Oh my gosh! What's wrong? Did I say something?" Sara sounded genuinely worried. Damn she even sounded like Sora! (only a little more feminine of course)**_

_**Riku laughed to himself, almost bitterly and shook his head.**_

"_**No, you didn't do anything wrong. I was just thinking about someone that I care about very much. You remind me a lot of him, you know that?" Riku looked up and noticed that she didn't seem the least bit shocked at the fact that Riku had just said he was gay.**_

"_**I lost someone I care about too. He couldn't help but succumb to the dark side of his heart and I couldn't help him. Walk with me?" Sara offered. Riku nodded and returned to his own respective buggy and walked along side her. **_

_**For the most part, the shopping trip went very well. Riku found out that Sara was a teen therapist, and that she was an adoptive child. She did research on her family and found out that after her, they didn't have any other children, and that her biological parents died 3 years ago. After she turned 18 she decided that she wanted to counsel teenagers who had gone through the same things that she had, and that she ended up being a counselor for a high school. After finding out so much about her Riku thought it only fair to offer up some information about him self.**_

_**Riku told her about how he grew up. He was a first born. Riku met Sora the summer he turned 8 and they became fast friends. When he was 10 he had a little sister, but she died at 6 months old, SIDS (sudden infant death syndrome). His mother committed suicide over it 2 months after that. He lived with his father till he was 14, but ran away because his father was prone to beating him. He blamed Riku for the death of his daughter, and of his wife. He lived with his friend Tidus, and a few months later he filed to be emancipated when he turned 15 because he didn't want to be put in a foster home. He knew he was too old to be put up for adoption. Once that went through he got his first apartment near Sora's. Then the kingdom hearts incident happened. (He just told her that he was part of a student exchange program and didn't tell Sora) At the time, he was 15, Sora was 14. Two years and nine months later, Sora hates Riku's guts, and has a new girlfriend, and has been icy to him ever since.**_

_**The entire conversation Sara nodded her head and listened intently. For the most part the entire trip was entirely normal and innocent. Until Riku ran into a certain someone that is.**_

"_**Riku?" He whipped around to see a kind faced, red – haired, blue – eyed woman. She brightened up when she recognized the green – eyed, silver – haired young man.**_

"_**Oh honey, it's so good to see you again!" Sora's mom reached up and hugged Riku like a mother who hadn't seen her child in years. Which, if you want to get technical, was true. Ever since Riku's mother died, she'd been the main female staple in his life.**_

"_**Oh, mom! It's good to see you too! How have you been?" Riku asked happily.**_

"_**Oh you know me. I'm not dead yet, so I must be doing fine." She laughed warmly and Riku realized how much he missed a real home. Sora's mom looked behind him at Sara.**_

"_**Who's your new little friend?" Sora's mom looked confused. Riku looked back and saw Sara with her head down shyly, and discreetly slinking away from the two people.**_

"_**This…" Riku said grabbing the back of Sara's coat before she could get too far away, "…is Sara. Sara, meet my bonus mom, Tsuzumi. We just…uh…ran into each other." Riku explained to Tsuzumi. Sora's mom smiled when she saw the look on Riku's face, which was, at the moment, all smiles, but definitely not for the reasons Sora's mom thought. Sora hadn't come out to his parents yet, and out of courtesy to Sora, neither did Riku. She had however caught on to the fact that Riku never dated. He never dated females in any case.**_

_**Riku noticed that Sora wasn't there with her. This made Riku curious. Sora never missed out on a grocery shopping day. It was his and his mother's bonding time as they often referred to it.**_

"_**Where's Sora? Doesn't he normally shop with you? He never misses a day." Riku noted. Tsuzumi smiled.**_

"_**You never miss a thing do you? I'm not sure where Sora is. He said he was staying with a friend last night. He seemed kind of anxious though. Did you hear that he and that nice Kairi girl is an item? I hate to be the gossip gab, but I'm just so happy for him. This is his first girlfriend." Sora's mom glowed with excitement. Riku's heart plummeted.**_

"_**Yeah. I did hear about that. They go good together huh?" Riku offered politely. The entire time, Riku and Sora's mom spoke neither of them noticed that Sara had sneaked away. Finally, Tsuzumi let Riku continue about his shopping spree. When Riku turned around he couldn't see Sara anywhere. Riku sighed and continued shopping, not noticing **_

_**a certain brown haired girl getting into a blue Lancer in the third row.**_


	4. Chapter 4

Riku decided to ride the bus home from the grocery store due to the fact that it was too cold for him to walk home with all his groceries. On his way home, he stared blankly out the window as he saw snow covered trees whiz by. He started to think about everything that Sora and he had gone through together. As kids, Sora was always picked on for having a girl's name, and for being the shortest out of everyone.

The day Riku switched to Sora's school was the day they met. Everyone in their class was playing kickball. Riku was rather shy as a kid and wasn't much for contact sports or any sport that required more than one person to a team, so he was sitting on the swings idly watching the following events play out. Sora was on the defensive team stationed at third base. Tidus was up to kick and he knocked it a hard one. As he rounded the bases he neared Sora and as Sora went to catch the ball Tidus gave him a hard shove and knocked him backwards. Tidus made it to home with no one tagging him, making it a win for their team. They all whooped and cheered. The teacher called everyone back in and as everyone on Sora's team passed him, they grumbled mild complaints, some muttered to him "Nice going there stupid." Or something of the like. One even went as far as to kick dirt on Sora's face.

After everyone had gone back inside Riku got up off the swing and cautiously approached the sniffling brown haired boy.

"Are you all right?" A mildly timid Riku asked. Sora looked up, tears swimming down his face. He sniffled once as blue eyes met green. He nodded his head and Riku smiled at him. He reached a small pale hand down toward the smaller boy and Sora looked at it for a moment before grasping it tightly in his own small hand. He smiled widely at Riku, and for an instant was stunned. The boy who just a moment a go was crying and upset now had the brightest smile ever. Riku helped him up and said simply, "My name's Riku." Sora's smile seemed to dim a little.

"I'm Sora. It's nice to meet you Riku." Riku kind of laughed. Sora's smile faded from happy to hurt at that.

"I know, it's a really girly name." Riku was confused for a minute.

"I wasn't laughing about the way your name sounded; I was laughing at how well it fit you. Earth spirit, hair of the earth, eyes of the water, spirit of the air. I like your name." This made Sora smile and almost glow. Riku gripped Sora's hand tightly as they headed back up to the school. Riku led Sora by the hand to the bathroom where he washed the dirt off of Sora's face with a wet paper towel.

"Why are you being so nice to me?" Sora said as Riku wiped away another smudge of dirt. Riku thought for a moment before answering.

"Because nobody should be treated like that. People can be mean sometimes." Riku almost grimaced as he remembered the kick in his gut his father had given him that morning.

"You really shouldn't bother. They'll just do it again later." Sora looked down as if he was ashamed of something. Riku took his face in his hands.

"Not anymore. I'm gonna protect you from now on okay? I won't let anyone hurt you anymore you got that? That's a promise." Riku simply stated. Sora stared at him for a minute before grinning and hugging Riku tightly.

"Okay." He said cheerfully. Riku and Sora held hands all the way back to class. When they got there the teacher asked where they had been. Riku explained about the kickball and pointed to the kid who had kicked dirt on Sora when he explained that. At this, both Tidus and the other boy jumped up and defended themselves denying every bit of it. Thank the gods for Kairi because she piped in.

"It's true Miss Lockheart." The teacher looked at the two boys and they sank to their seats knowing they had been defeated.

"Boys you know I have to call your parents about this." The one boy nodded but Tidus shot his head up to protest before he was cut off by a familiar voice.

"Call our parents about what?" Everyone looked back and saw Tidus's older brother Wakka standing in the doorway. Miss Lockheart explained everything to him, and Wakka smiled.

"Well, I came to get Tidus and Selphie to go home, so I'll tell them for you." What hardly anyone knew was that Tidus, Selphie, and Wakka's parents had died almost two years ago. And they preferred that not many people know about it specifically adults. They didn't want to be separated so they avoided anyone finding out.

After class, Kairi met up with Sora and Riku outside the school gates. They all walked home together not caring about the pack of bullies following close behind them. Riku walked Sora all the way to his front door, despite his protests.

Riku was so wrapped up in his thoughts he almost missed his stop. Riku hopped off the bus. As he neared his apartment, he couldn't help but notice a brown haired boy standing outside his apartment. Riku lowered his eyes and acted like he didn't even see Sora.

As Riku approached the door he pulled out his keys to unlock the door.

"Are you just going to ignore me for the rest of your life?" Sora said with a sigh. Riku looked at him.

"Funny, I could ask you the same thing." Riku simply retorted. He gave a smart smirk as he heard the lock in the door click.

"Bye Sora." Riku stepped into the house and shut the door behind him as Sora called out to him.

Riku stood in the doorway wondering if that was the right thing to do or not. He hoped so, otherwise he was gonna feel like a real ass in a couple of weeks. Sora banged on the door a couple of times before giving up. Riku stood in his door way for a minute pissed to beat all hell.

"How dare Sora show up here and expect me to fall at his feet. Like hell I'm going to cater to his every whim as he sees fit!" Riku steamed to himself. He set his bags down in the kitchen and headed to his room to take off his coat. He opened the door and stripped himself of his wet coat and shoes. He pulled his slippers out of the shoe rack he had hanging on his closet door.

"And not only to show up, but to show up with Kairi's lipstick still plastered on his mouth." He then laughed about something that he noticed, Kairi and Sara wear the same color lipstick….wait a minute….was Sora wearing mascara?


	5. Chapter 5

Riku ran out of his apartment after Sora. He hit the bottom of the stairwell just in time to see the tail end of Sora's car pull out of the complex.

"KUSO!" (Shit in Japanese) Riku stalked back up the stairs, his toes already frozen in his now snow soaked slippers. When Riku got back to his apartment, and looked at the phone debating whether or not to call him. Before he realized it, the phone was in his hand and ringing. After two rings a familiar voice answered.

"Sora's phone, Selphie speaking!" Riku raised one eyebrow in confusion and looked at the phone for a moment.

"Selphie?" Riku asked in confusion. There was a moment of pause on the phone before the red-head replied in an awkward voice.

"Oh, hi Riku. What are you doing?" Riku paused for a minute and listened.

"Hello?" Selphie asked into the phone when she didn't hear Riku's response.

"Yeah, hey, um, quick question. Why do you have Sora's cell phone? Cloud's the only person he lets borrow it." There was an uncomfortable silence as he heard Cloud in the background rustling around.

"Um, me and cloud are hanging out, what do you need, I'll make sure Sora gets the message." Riku heard Cloud mumble something about his pants, piquing his interest.

"Why is Cloud looking for his pants?" Riku grinned as he heard Selphie make a small squeaking noise of uncertainty and discomfort.

"Were you two having sex?" Riku almost laughed out loud and Selphie stuttered for a believable explanation.

"Give me the phone." Riku heard Cloud say.

"Hello?" Cloud said into the phone. By this point Riku was almost bursting with laughter, and trying to contain it. Finally he gave up and almost fell to the floor laughing.

"What, may I ask, is so funny?" Cloud asked indignantly. Riku calmed his laughter enough to respond.

"Two things. One, I thought I had some tough things to explain, and two does Sora, the little germaphobe, know that you're touching his phone after having sex?" Riku continued to laugh. Cloud hung up the phone, and Riku sat on the couch grinning about the situation.

"Well," He mused to himself. "That certainly made my day."

Riku made his way to the kitchen to start making lunch. He was in better spirits now so he actually felt like cooking.

Halfway through making the pasta the doorbell rang. Riku turned the heat on the burner down before answering the door. To his unpleasant shock, he found Kairi standing awkwardly on his front step. She looked up when he opened the door. He didn't know whether to be surprised or upset. He hadn't seen Kairi in so long except for that time that he followed Sora to the playground.

"Riku, nobody told me you were back. But I was walking home from Selphie's house and I saw Sora tear out of here like a bat out of hell." She smiled cheerfully. Riku laughed and said, "Let me guess, Selphie wasn't home right?" Kairi's smile dropped a little as she looked at Riku in confusion.

"Well, yeah. How did you know?" She asked.

"I just got off the phone with her and Cloud. I interrupted their muka session." At that Riku started laughing all over again, and after a second, so did Kairi.

"So I guess their little secret is out." She said through fits of giggles.

"Yeah, I guess so. But how long have you known?" Riku asks, with his usual tact. Kairi thinks for a moment.

"Uh, I guess I found out immediately. Selphie needed me to come pick her up and she just kind of came out and told me that Cloud had taken her virginity. It was a bit of a shock to me really. I mean, Cloud and Selphie? I thought Selphie was into Tidus, but I guess you can't judge a book by it's cover, as they say. But I guess after living with them after her parents died, she's started seeing him as a brother and that's it. Oh well. Anyway, it's so good to see you. I missed you so much!" She threw her arms around Riku standing on tip toe to hug him around the neck. Riku returned the hug, a little less mad at Kairi for stealing Sora from him. Only a little.

"Hey, you hungry? I'm making lunch." Riku offered.

"Not really, but if you have some coffee that would be great." She smiled, not wanting to be rude.

"Of course. Head into the kitchen. I'll be there in a minute." He nodded toward the kitchen as she closed the door behind her. He took a couple deep breaths composing himself before following her in to make a pot of coffee.

"Hey, is it just me or has Sora been acting kind of strange?" He asked, trying to get to the bottom of the mascara mystery. He poured a cup of coffee for Kairi, putting some milk and sugar in, the way he remembered she liked.

"I guess a little bit. But I haven't been able to figure out why. Do you know anything Riku?" She asked incredulously. Riku shook his head as he dumped the pasta into a colander to let it strain.

"No, sorry. So, I heard that you and Sora are together. Is that true?" He asked, trying to hide the hurt, and apparently succeeding.

"Yeah, but I'm not sure that it's what Sora really wants. I told him that if he didn't feel that way then I was fine being friends, but he insisted that he had liked me for a while. And so here we are! Pretty crazy huh?" She smiled happily.

"Yeah, that's pretty crazy." Riku agreed when he heard a knock on the door. He went to the door and looked through the peep hole and saw Sara standing there. He opened it with brows furrowed in confusion.

"Hey, Riku! I was putting my groceries away and found your wallet tucked in with my produce! I figured you might need it at some point." She handed him his wallet and smiled warmly. He glanced down at the brown wallet in her hands.

"Oh, thank you so much! It must have fallen out of my jacket pocket when we crashed! Thanks so much! Do you want to come in for some coffee?" Riku offered.

"Oh, no thank you. I have to get to work, but I'll take you up on that later. Tomorrow at four sound okay?" She smiled anxiously.

"Yeah, that sounds great! I'll meet you at the café at the corner." Riku gave her a small smile. As she nodded and turned to leave.

Closing the door Riku chuckled at himself. Heading toward the kitchen, Riku stopped when he heard Kairi talking on the phone her voice raised slightly with tension.

"Sora, I hear her in the background, don't try to lie to me. If you have something to tell me than tell me." She said, straining to keep her voice down to a reasonable tone. There was a long silence before Kairi finally saw Riku standing in the doorway.

"I'll talk to you about it later. I'm at Riku's house right now so I'll…Sora? Hello? Are you there? Ugh, stupid boy!" Kairi shut her phone in frustration.

"Wow, what was that about?" Riku asked as he spooned himself some pasta and ladled on sauce.

"I called Sora to let him know I was gonna be late getting home tonight because I got a call from work saying they needed me to work night shift, and I heard some girl apologizing in the background. I asked where he was and he wouldn't tell me. Wouldn't even tell me who she was. As soon as I mentioned your name he hung up real quick. Sheesh, what did you do to piss him off? Can't he deal with stuff like an adult? Now I know what you mean by acting weird." Kairi rambled and Riku ate his food nodding every so often to acknowledge that he was still listening. She still rambled when she was upset.

'Good to see some things just don't change.' Riku thought to himself as Kairi continued to ramble about everything from Sora to why the rain was so heavy this year as she collected her stuff and headed out the door.

"Bye Kairi. It was good to see you again. Stop by again soon and we can talk some more." Riku waved her off as she headed down the stairs.

The door closed against the cold once again, and Riku started to clean up his dishes, thinking back to what Kairi said about her phone call to Sora.

If you had asked him, Riku would have said it was never possible, but with this recent turn of events, he's beginning to wonder…Was Sora hiding something bigger than anyone expected from everyone? Was Sora cheating on Kairi?

Chapter five complete. What is Sora's big secret? Who is the mysterious woman on the other end of Kairi's phone? Find out in Chapter six! The more you review, the faster it'll be up!


	6. Chapter 6

_**BREEP BREEP BREEP BREEP BREEP BRE- Riku viciously slapped his alarm clock off. Not the morning person, he glared at the obnoxious device, silently daring it to make another sound. After laying in bed for another half hour he decided that it was time to get up and start his day. He rolled out of bed and shuffled to the shower. He washed his hair and stepped out, wrapping a towel around his waste and walked out to the kitchen to start a pot of coffee.**_

_**After starting the pot he made his way back to his room to get dressed. He had just pulled on his shirt when there was a loud knocking at his front door. Looking at the clock, he was confused as to who would be insane enough to be at his house at eight in the morning.**_

"_**Fucking nut job, haven't even had my coffee…" He muttered to himself as he peered through the peephole. Apparently this was not going to be his day when he saw the messy brown hair and bright blue eyes of Sora standing out in front of his door. He grudgingly unbolted the door and opened it far enough to look out.**_

"_**What?" He growled unpleasantly. Sora gave him a puckered face smile.**_

"_**Good morning to you too sunshine." He growled back.**_

"_**Sora, it's eight in the morning. What do you need?" He said, trying to be a little less grumpy.**_

"_**Can I come in? It's just above freezing out here." Sora asked, the pucker face gone, now looking rather tired. Riku sighed and pushed the door open walking back toward the kitchen, leaving Sora standing in the open doorway to come in if he so wished.**_

"_**Coffee?" Riku offered as he disappeared into the kitchen to pour himself a cup. He was gonna need it, as well as some aspirin, as he could feel the beginnings of a headache. He heard the front door close and was almost tempted to peek back into the living room to see if Sora had decided to leave after all. But he heard Sora's footsteps following him into the kitchen.**_

"_**No thanks. I just came to deliver a message." Sora said in quick clipped sentences. Riku popped a couple aspirin into his mouth and washed them down with a swig of black coffee, nearly burning his tongue.**_

"_**So deliver it." Riku responded in the same clipped manner.**_

"_**Sara said she's not gonna be able to make it to your coffee, there was an emergency at work that she has to deal with." Sora explained, almost smugly, making Riku stop for a half second.**_

"_**How do you know Sara? Is that who you were with when Kairi called?" Riku asked, slightly intrigued. Sora blushed as Riku cut right to the chase.**_

"_**What does it matter to you how I know her, or whether or not I was with her?" Sora asked, sounding irritated.**_

"_**It matters how you know her because I'm curious. And as to whether or not you were with her, that really irked Kairi. I don't care if you don't want to be with me, okay? I really don't give two shits, but I do care about what happens to Kairi because of you. If you're sneaking around, and for her sake, I really hope you're not, but if you are then you need to at least be honest with her about it. After everything that we put her through, she doesn't deserve for you to treat her like that." Riku asked, letting a little bit of the malice he felt inside to touch his words. Regardless of his feelings for Sora, he knew Kairi deserved better than some cheating man-whore. Did Sara know about Kairi? Did she care?**_

_**Riku kept those thoughts to himself as Sora became hostile, his hands creating fists at his sides, and a slight blush rising in his cheeks.**_

"_**Sorry, I didn't realize you thought so little of me. To think that I would cheat on Kairi, that's really great Riku. Sara was pretty upset that she couldn't make it, but now, I'm glad she couldn't. I wouldn't want someone as nice as her to be around someone like you!" Sora's voice rose as he went on.**_

"_**I wouldn't BE like this if you weren't slinking around, not telling anybody where you are. If you and Kairi were switched, or even me and you, wouldn't you be wondering the same thing? If you ask me, it all seems pretty suspicious, and I'm not gonna stand around and let one of my friends get hurt because of another's selfishness." Riku said coldly.**_

"_**I'm selfish!? What about you!? You were gone for almost three years, Riku! I didn't have my best friend by my side for three years! I didn't get a letter, an e-mail, nothing! You dropped off the face of the earth, quite literally, for a long time without warning! You don't think that hurt, Riku? Do you really think you being gone had such little affect on me? You think you have this all figured out, but you don't even know the START of what's going on, so don't even try to look like you know what's really going on, because you know what's going to happen?" Sora yelled.**_

"_**What? You won't talk to me? Oh, wait a minute, looks like that's already happened, hasn't it?" Riku shot back, pain evident on his voice. Instead of responding, Riku was shocked to see tears suddenly spring to Sora's eyes. A couple slipped out before Sora could wipe them away so Riku wouldn't see. He turned and headed for the door.**_

"_**Wait! Sora, I'm sorry!" Riku called after him, but he was already gone. Riku groaned to himself. Freaking great. As far as plans to win Sora back went, this one was sure nose-diving fast. He roughly punched the door-frame in frustration, jumping when he heard and felt the sickening crack that was unmistakably his knuckles breaking. Tears leapt to his eyes when he tried to move his fingers.**_

_**Rushing to his room, he snagged his cell off the nightstand and punched in Kairi's number with his good hand.**_

"_**Hey Riku! What are you up to?" Kairi asked cheerfully. Damn that girl knew how to rebound fast. Nothing ever fazed her for long.**_

"_**Kairi, I need you to come and take me to the hospital. I'm pretty sure I just broke my hand." He hissed into the phone as he tried, and failed, to move his fingers again.**_

"_**Oh my god! I'll be right there! Take some aspirin to keep the swelling and pain to a low, I'm on my way." She said in a rush, as Riku heard her accelerate. Kairi was there in five minutes. Riku had already grabbed his wallet and locked the apartment and was waiting downstairs for Kairi. She threw the passenger door open for Riku and he climbed in and braced himself as Kairi sped to the hospital.**_

_**When they arrived and x-rayed his hand, sure enough he had broken two bones. Thankfully they were fully broken and not just fractured, so at least they'd heal stronger. Riku sat on the edge of the hospital bed, a little woozy from the morphine, his hand still throbbing a little, despite being wrapped in a nice lime green cast. He was going to go with black, but after Kairi complained about not being able to sign it if it was black, decided on the lime green. There was a tap on the door before a certain brunette woman poked her head in, smiling sheepishly.**_

"_**Hey. What are you doing here? I though you had an emergency at work. How'd you know I was here?" Riku rambled, blaming it on the drugs instead of any actual feelings of happiness that Sara was there.**_

"_**Kairi called Sora and said you got into a fight with the door frame and the door frame won." She smiled as she closed the door behind her.**_

"_**Oh. So you were with Sora. How do you know Sora? He's been acting really weird. You're not fooling around with him are you? Because you do not want to see Kairi mad, she is one crazy bitch." Riku giggled a little bit at his own joke, as half his brain wondered why that was funny, and the other half wondered if this was what it was like to be stoned.**_

"_**No, I'm not fooling around with Sora. I've known Sora for years, he just never wanted to accept me into his life, never wanted to accept that I was there. Regardless, I could never be intimate with him." Sara said, bowing her head as if she was embarrassed. Riku sobered up instantly at that.**_

"_**What do you mean you've known Sora for years? How could you have known him for so long and I've never met you? Sora never once mentioned you. You must have gotten on his bad side big time or something." Riku pressed. Sara sighed heavily, her shoulders sagging. She looked very tired all of a sudden.**_

"_**I'm a lot closer to Sora than he wants anyone to know. Especially you. He's not sure how you'll accept him, once you know his secret. Our secret." Sara's voice became grave.**_

"_**What, are you like his real mom or something? Is Sora adopted?" Riku asked urgently, wanting to get the secrets out of the way. He was tired of all this secrecy and sneaking around.**_

"_**NO! No, I'm not old enough to be his mom! I'm only 23. That would've made me an impossible six years old! Riku, there's something I need to tell you. About me and Sora. You see, me and Sora are -" Sara was cut off by the doctor deciding to come check on how the cast was setting at that exact moment.**_

"_**Hey! How's the hand? Setting okay?" He asked earnestly. Riku gave the doctor an irritated nod before turning back to Sara who had her phone to her ear.**_

"_**I'll be right there. Riku, I have to get back to the school. I'm sorry, but I really have to go. We'll talk about this later though!" She hurried out, the phone pressed tightly to her ear. Riku clenched his teeth hard, thoroughly irritated. Fight with Sora, broken hand, seriously unanswered questions…This was NOT Riku's day.**_

_**When he got released from the hospital with a morphine prescription, he stalked out to Kairi's car, wrenching the door open. Kairi jumped a little when he slammed the door.**_

"_**You okay? What did they say?" Kairi looked sincerely concerned and it helped to lighten Riku's mood just the tiniest bit.**_

"_**Two broken bones, at least two months to heal, dopey drugs for the pain. The good shit." He held the morphine prescription out so Kairi could see. She glanced over it and headed for the local pharmacy to fill it.**_

"_**You stay here in the car, I'll go get this filled." Kairi said as she unbuckled and climbed out. Riku just nodded. Riku pulled out his cell phone when Kairi disappeared inside and dialed in Sora's cell number.**_

"_**Time for some answers." He said to no one in particular. After two rings, Sora answered the phone.**_

"_**Hello?"**_

"_**Sora, we need to talk, can you be at my house tomorrow around noon?" Riku asked. He heard Sora sigh on the other end, silence stretching for a long time while Riku stared into space. It took Sora so long to respond that Riku was a little surprised when Sora's voice sounded on the ear piece.**_

"_**Yeah. There's something I've been needing to tell you."**_

"_**Thanks. See you tomorrow. And could you bring Sara too?" He requested. Silence again.**_

"_**Couldn't come without her." Sora said grudgingly before hanging up the phone. Finally, Riku would get some answers.**_


	7. Chapter 7

**Author's note**: Okay, So I got a review asking about how Riku paid for his groceries if Sara had his wallet. To be perfectly honest, that little hole in the story was a rues to get people to review. To answer your question, he had cash in his pocket. Pay close attention because I may do that to you all again. ;) Thank you to all the readers that have set an alert for this, favorited this, or reviewed/messaged. The more you message, the faster updates will be made. I work off of a Priority by Popularity schedule. The more popular a story is, the faster it's updates will be made. Translation, all you readers are my motivation, so warm up those cattle prods people! Speed incentive! Anyways, here's chapter seven. Enjoy!

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**Riku woke up at eight the next morning groggy and tired as hell, having not slept well at all the night before due to the awkward cast. He didn't want to try to shower with the thing on just yet, so he just combed out his hair and called it good. Riku was nervous and jumpy all morning, anxious to know what it was that Sora was hiding. Riku hated secrets that weren't his.**

**Around eleven he started to pace his house nervously. Having already cleaned up the living room and kitchen, had laundry going, he was out of things to do to occupy his time. He was far too fidgety to sit and read something, so he settled for sitting on the couch and flicking through the channels. As he flipped through MTV, infomercials, the Spanish channel, and the home-shopping network, his mind wandered.**

'**What did Sora mean he couldn't come without Sara? It's not like they're conjoined twins or something. I'm pretty positive I would've noticed THAT by now.' Riku thought to himself.**

"**Unless they're the same person. But I guess that would explain why I never see them at the same time. But then who was the girl that Sora was with when Kairi called him? What's going on? UGH! I can't stand this waiting around! I'm gonna climb the freaking walls!" Riku jumped when his phone rang at 11:45, only then realizing that he had been talking to himself.**

"**Hello?" Riku asked, as he flipped his phone open. He heard loud talking in the background and someone sniffling.**

"**Riku? It's Kairi. What are you doing?" Kairi asked, her voice thick with tears. Riku's nerves went on high alert.**

"**Waiting for Sora, he's supposed to meet me at my house. Kairi, what's wrong? Why are you crying?" Riku's voice urgent. He sat in silence as he heard her take a couple shaky breaths, trying to calm her voice before talking.**

"**Sora got into a car accident. He was going through the intersection and a truck ran the light, t-boning Sora's car on the driver's side. He's pretty roughed up. Oh god, Riku, they say that he may have a broken neck, and his lung is punctured. Me and Tsuzumi are on our way to the hospital right now." Kairi's voice broke on the last couple sentencing, her voice choking up with unshed tears. A cold hand reached into Riku's chest and gripped his heart in an iron vice.**

"**I'll be there in fifteen minutes." Without reading a response he hung up and punched in Tidus's phone number. He answered on the first ring.**

"**Tidus, it's Riku. Sora got in car wreck. Can you take me to the hospital?" Riku rushed through the sentence tugging his coat and snow boots on.**

"**Yeah, meet me at my car." They hung up and Riku tore out of the house.**

'**Great, I finally get a chance to get answers and he tries to fucking die on me. Fucking great.' Riku fumes to himself as he rushes to Tidus's truck.**

**They race to the Hospital, making it there in record time. Riku immediately laid eyes on Tsuzumi and Kairi in the waiting room. Tidus went to the cafeteria.**

"**Hey, where is he?" He knelt in front of the pair, eyes tight, nerves tight as piano cords.**

"**He's in surgery right now, he had a collapsed lung." Kairi said, sounding very tired. Tsuzumi stood and reached to hug Riku. He held her tight, rubbing her back in circles trying to calm the hysterical sobs coming from the woman.**

"**Shh, shh. It's gonna be okay. He's gonna be okay. He's a fighter, you know that better than anyone. He's made it through a lot worse and a lot more than most people. He'll make it through this too." Riku murmured comfortingly to Sora's mom.**

"**Riku?" A voice called from behind them. Riku let Tsuzumi go and turned to see Sara walking over shaking snow off herself.**

"**Is he okay? I got a call from the nurse saying Sora had been in an accident." Sara looked flustered and Riku stared blankly for a moment.**

'**Well, there goes the Sora's transgender idea.' He thought to himself.**

"**Uh, yeah. He was on his way to my house when he got hit by a truck that ran a red. Collapsed lung and broken neck. I haven't been in to see him yet." Riku said slowly, keeping his arm around Tsuzumi's shoulders.**

"**Are you a friend of Sora's?" Tsuzumi asked weakly. Sara nodded as she sat down. They all sat in silence, jumping any time a doctor came through the door. Finally, after what seemed like hours a doctor approached them, his face neutral, and looked right at Tsuzumi.**

"**Are you Mr. Kayaitch's legal guardian?" He asked, stumbling over the pronunciation of Sora's last name.**

"**Yes, and it's pronounced Kay-Aitch. Like the letters K and H. How is he? Is he gonna be okay?" Tsuzumi, always the phonetically correct, asked with dread evident in her voice. The doctor sighed heavily, making the temperature drop twenty degrees.**

"**We've mended the punctured lung, and did our best with the broken neck. His left arm and leg are broken, but they were clean breaks. He also has a broken nose from the impact of the air bag. Everything has been put in either a cast or been stitched. Other than that there are only some superficial scrapes and bruises. He'll definitely be sore in the morning." The doctor tried to lighten the mood, without success. Riku cleared his throat and asked the question that was sitting on everyone's chest like a big ugly monkey.**

"**We were concerned about paralysis, but it seems at this time that there wasn't any permanent damage to the spine or nerves so he should be fine in about three to four months. He still has the movement of his fingers and toes, still has feeling in all of his extremities. He was very lucky. I don't know of anyone who's survived such a beating." The doctor explained, looking rather relieved himself as they all burst into tears. Well, except for Riku of course. Kairi was the first to recompose herself.**

"**How soon can we see him?" She asked, happiness leaking into her voice.**

"**Right now, he's in recovery, and he'll be there for about two hours. The nurse has your cell phone number Mrs. Kayaitch, so if you want to go down to the cafeteria, I'll have them call you as soon as he gets moved to a room." He shook Riku and Tsuzumi's hand before heading back into the ICU. They all stood in a daze for a moment, over - joyed to know that Sora was going to be okay. They went down to the cafeteria and sat around a table, no one daring to talk, but all anxious to get up to Sora's room and see the damage for themselves.**

**An hour and a half later Tsuzumi's phone rang. It was the nurse's station calling to let her know that what room they had moved Sora to, but they only wanted two visitors at a time in the room with him. Tidus waved to Riku and told him he'd be waiting in the car. Riku and Sara let Tsuzumi and Kairi go in to him first. They looked at each other for a long time, neither wanting to speak as they looked into Sora's room through the observation window. He looked pretty bad. His face marred and swollen, his arm and leg both in casts, IV's going into his hands and arms, bandages covering over half of him. It made Riku hurt just to look at him.**

"**Don't think that I haven't forgotten about the talk the three of us need to have." Riku said to Sara and she chuckled lightly.**

"**I think, considering the circumstances, it would be all right to put it off for a bit." Sara said, reasonably, and Riku nodded. Kairi stepped out and Riku became concerned at the sad look on her face.**

"**You mean a lot to him, you know?" Kairi asked Riku.**

"**What? What are you talking about? What did he say?" Riku flicked his eyes between Sora and Kairi.**

"**He broke up with me. I mean, right after nearly dying, he breaks up with me! The nerve. But I know that it's nothing personal. I guess near death experiences really snap everything into perspective. Put your priorities in line. He's having a talk with his mom about his choice in significant others. I'm just really glad that he's finally being honest with himself. Follow your heart, you know? He spent so much time pretending that he was actually into girls. But I was happy. I was okay with pretending. Even if it was painful to watch him try so hard. But you know I always thought he looked so cute when he tried too hard." Kairi smiled, despite the tears in her eyes, and winked at Riku. Riku just stared at her making Kairi laugh a little bit.**

"**He chose you, Riku. And don't look so surprised that I know. You don't exactly hide it well, either." Kairi tried to lighten the mood so Riku knew she wasn't completely crushed by this turn of events. Tsuzumi leaned out the door and smiled, tears in her eyes, at Riku.**

"**Riku, dear. Could you come in? Sora wants to see you." She motioned for Riku to follow her. Suddenly, his feet seemed to be rooted to the ground. He was nervous about this. Was Riku ready for this? This is what he wanted isn't it? There are still too many secrets. But when he looked at the brown haired boy laying on the bed, he knew that his questions could wait, right now, he needed to get out of there. He waved to Sora through the observation window and jogged off in the direction of the exit.**

**As he burst out into the fresh air he climbed into the passenger side of Tidus's truck. Pressing his hands over his face to keep the tears at bay he growled for Tidus to take him home. Without a word Tidus nodded and left. Dropping Riku off, he gave the silver haired man one last long look before heading home.**

"**You sure you're going to be okay man?" Tidus yelled out the passenger window. Riku nodded and went into his apartment. Collapsing onto the couch, Riku cried. He cried, and cried until he didn't think he had anything left in him. Sora was going to be okay. Before he knew it he had fallen asleep and it was noon the next morning. Riku's eyes ached from crying so much and he desperately needed coffee. He rolled off the couch and headed to the kitchen when his cell phone buzzed, alerting him of an incoming message.**

'**Riku, Sora's going home 2day. I rly think u should go talk 2 him. No matter wat, I know he'll understand. - Kairi'**

**Riku smirked. As he replied.**

'**When? - Riku' He started the coffee pot and watched it brew while he waited for a response when his phone buzzed he picked it back up.**

'**Tsuzumi's going 2 get him in 30 min. - Kairi' Riku poured himself a cup of coffee and smiled.**

'**Thanks. Sorry about yesterday. I just needed to get out of there. - Riku' Riku texted back.**

'**I'm not the 1 who needs ur apology. - Kairi' Riku grimaced at that but let it be. He'd let Sora get settled in at home, and go see him tomorrow. He still didn't know what was going on between Sora and Sara. What was the big secret already! He was tired of something interrupting every time he got close to answers!**


End file.
